May 21, 2009 - West Palm Beach, Florida -- Fourteen Thoroughbred Racehorses that have come to the end of their racing career have arrived at Pure Thought's Inc Thoroughbred Rehabilitation and Placement Division in the past two months since the rescue expanded their OTTB (Off Track Thoroughbred) Division.

This decision came from observations made over the past six years pulling thoroughbreds that had recently raced, from the auctions and killpens throughout the country. After representatives from Pure Thoughts Inc Horse & Foal Rescue recently attended the races at Gulfstream Park to watch Nicanor, brother of the legendary Barbaro, run his first race, it became apparent that much of the deterioration a race horse goes through is in the hauling to northern auctions and the elements they are exposed to at these auctions as well as the risk of going to slaughter. Jennifer Swanson commented on the reason for this decision. "Through recent research we have found that there are not enough organizations in Florida dedicated to only OTTB's. The organization decided that there is a definite need for the horses racing at the Florida track such as Calder, Gulfstream Park and Tampa Bay Downs. Why chase them North, we have pulled so many that had recently raced at a Florida track."

Pure Thoughts Inc., Horse & Foal Rescue has spent the last six and a half years pulling horses from slaughter as well as taking in horses from abuse and neglect. Two months ago the organization, with the help of others in the racing industry decided to expand the Thoroughbred Division for the race horses. After Miami's WTVJ/NBC, Channel 6 special projects reporter Jeff Burnside, reported a large, growing and illegal horse slaughter industry in South Florida Horses discovered that horses in Florida are being tied to trees and slaughtered, some of them race horses. "They are poachers from Miami's black market who sell the horses' meat, which is a popular delicacy among new arrivals from other countries to the area. The horse meat can go for as much as $20 per pound and based on the number of bloody horse remains and meat-stripped carcasses found on the side of dirt roads and in stables across Miami-Dade, harvesting horses for meat is a lucrative business." There are also kill buyers here picking up horses throughout the State from racetracks and auction and sending them to larger kill auctions, Mexico and Canada. "The organization decided that there is a definite need for the horses racing at the Florida tracks including Calder Race Course, Gulfstream Park and Tampa Bay Downs.

Horsemen's Benevolent Protection Association and Calder Race Course, a Churchill Downs racetrack, have donated to Pure Thoughts Inc for the expansion of the Thoroughbred Rehabilitation and Placement Division. Both organizations feel that the welfare of the horses in the racing industry must to be a priority. Calder Race Course has a written policy prohibiting the transport of horses from Churchill Downs Inc facilities to slaughter. Churchill Downs - "Horses are the very heart of our industry and deserve humane treatment and a safe, healthy retirement at the conclusion of their racing careers."